Domestic energy customer credit balances, April 2025 to March 2026

Main points 

• Across the 12 months ending March 2026 the average total credit balance in the market remained at £3.2 billion, which is unchanged from the year ending December 2025
• In the same 12 months the rolling average household credit balance was £199, which is also what was reported in the year ending December 2025
• The market wide total credit balance specific to the end of March 2026 was £1.9 billion, an increase of £181 million from March 2025
• An average household held £135 of credit at the end of March 2026, an increase of £5 from March 2025
• These observations do not signify a problem as credit balances follow seasonal patterns with yearly averages seeing gradual movements
• All figures are net of unbilled consumption, for live domestic customers who pay by fixed direct debit and have a credit balance   

Things you need to know 

Energy suppliers’ customer credit balances are an important part of the retail energy market. Details about how energy suppliers should treat customer credit balances are included in the rules in energy licences that set out consumer standards and what suppliers must do to stay financially stable. 

The amount of credit that is held in energy accounts goes up and down during the year. Accounts will have more credit in them during the summer but then more is spent in the winter as more energy is used. Each household may have different experiences with how much credit they have on their balance at different times of the year. However, this is the trend that is seen across the energy sector. 

Data are for live domestic customers energy accounts that are held by people who pay for their gas and electricity by fixed Direct Debit and have paid for the energy they use.   

The data is only for households whose energy account was in credit on the last day to each quarter from April 2025 to March 2026. 

Get data 

Get all the live energy domestic customer credit balances data in the retail market indicators data on our data portal. 

Methodology 

We have removed the amount of energy that has been used but not yet been paid for from the data, as well as any credit held by closed accounts, and those on non-domestic tariffs. 

By including the quarterly figure alongside the yearly average, we show how households use their balances to keep how much they pay the same throughout the year. 

Further information 

This data is published at the end of March, June, September and December each year.